Excess humidity brings a lot of troubles to the owners of summer cottages and suburban areas. The first signs of the phenomenon are stagnant puddles, which can "please" with their existence for several days, or even weeks. If you can put up with them, then other manifestations of high humidity: the soaking of plants and trees on the site, the destruction of the foundations of buildings, are far from so harmless. If the land tenure is located in a lowland or the groundwater level is high, do not despair, you need to drain the site with your own hands.

To remove excess moisture, a drainage system is used, which can be carried out in two ways. Distinguish between surface and deep drainage. The first is used to drain water from the territory that accumulates after seasonal floods or heavy rainfall.

The second is designed to reduce soil moisture by draining groundwater. In general, the type of drainage is selected depending on the condition of the site and the requirements of its owner. Despite the significant difference between the types of drainage, each of them can be done independently.

Surface drainage design and construction

Surface drainage systems can be of two types: linear and point. The latter are designed to drain water from small isolated areas on the territory. Special water intakes of point drainage are placed in places where water accumulates. These can be areas under gutters, in the lower part of terraces, in relief depressions, at entrances, etc. Such a system is considered the simplest and does not require a special scheme.

Point drainage inlets are located in places where water accumulates

Linear drainage is more complicated in design and installation. It is used to remove moisture from buildings, protect paths, entrances from water, prevent the washing off of the fertile soil layer on the site, etc. The structure is a specially designed system of shallow trenches, laid at a certain angle, which runs along the perimeter of the site and in places of maximum water accumulation.

Before starting work, a drainage project for the site is drawn up, which assumes the presence of a main trench to collect moisture flowing into the ditches. It should end in a water intake, which can be a storm sewer or a ravine. In the design process, it is necessary to consider all places of stagnation of moisture and lay trenches from them to the main drainage system.

It is also necessary to correctly calculate the slope of the structures, otherwise the water will not flow down them. The minimum slope of drains in sandy soils should be at least 0.003, in clayey - 0.002. The inlet must be located below the line drainage level. Practice shows that the best result is obtained with a slope in the range from 0.005 to 0.01. To equip the surface drainage of the site with your own hands, you can use two methods:

Open. Assumes the presence of open trenches, dug according to the drainage scheme. The walls of structures are usually formed at an angle of 30 °, which allows water to drain into the ditch without problems. The width of the structure is 0.5 m and the depth is 0.7 m. The main advantage of the system is its simplicity in execution. An unaesthetic appearance, which spoils the impression of the site, is considered a serious drawback. In addition, the walls of the trench, which are not reinforced by anything, quickly crumble and the structure becomes unusable.

Crushed stone filling prevents the destruction of the trench, but at the same time reduces its throughput

Important: To solve the problem of crumbling walls of the drainage trench, crushed stone can be used. For this, the lower part of the groove is covered with coarse gravel, and the upper part with a finer fraction. From above, the structure can be covered with turf. Such a drainage device on the site allows you to prevent soil creeping and preserve the trench, but at the same time seriously reduces its throughput.

Closed. It consists in the use of special drainage trays, which are laid directly in the trenches, and are closed from above with gratings. The structures protect the grooves from soil slipping, the gratings prevent debris from getting inside the drainage structure. Trays can be concrete, polymer concrete or plastic, which are considered the most popular today due to their low weight and exceptional durability.

The lattice covering the tray can be made of metal or plastic

Deep drainage system: subtleties of design and installation

Deep drainage is designed to reduce soil moisture. For the system to work effectively, it must be located below the groundwater level. In determining it, you will definitely need the help of a specialist, since it is impossible to do this on your own. It is necessary to order a detailed plan of the site for the surveyors, on which the level of the aquifer should be marked, which will allow an accurate design of the structure.

It happens that the drainage system on the site is needed only to ensure the vital activity of plants suffering from excess moisture. In this case, you can use a simplified calculation option. Average values ​​are used to determine the depth of the drains. Pipes can be located at an elevation of 0.6 to 1.5 m.You need to know that for fruit trees it will be 1.5, for forest trees - 0.9, for lawns, flower beds and flower beds - about 0.9 m. in areas with peat soils, deeper trenches must be equipped, since such soils settle very quickly. The depth of the drains will vary from 1 to 1.6 m.

For the arrangement of the drainage system, special perforated pipes are used. Initially, asbestos-cement or ceramic structures were used, which have now given way to plastic ones. Drains are pipes with a diameter of 50 to 200 mm, equipped with a network of holes with a diameter of 1.5 to 5 mm. Some models can be equipped with a special filter shell that prevents debris from entering the holes. Plastic pipes are durable, lightweight and very easy to install.

In order to equip the deep drainage of the suburban area with your own hands, you should first draw up a project that will reflect the depth of the drainage pipes and show where they will pass. As in the case of a surface drainage system, it is assumed that there is a main trench that collects moisture from all secondary pipes, and ends in a water intake: a sewer, a reservoir or a special storage well.

Perforated pipes for deep drainage are laid on a cushion of sand and gravel

In the process of installing the drainage system, several stages are distinguished:

• Trench equipment. In the places marked in the project, we dig channels about 40 cm wide. The depth of the structure can be different, it depends on the level of groundwater. A sand cushion is laid out on the bottom, and on it is a layer of rubble, on top of which a drainage pipe is placed. In some cases, it can be wrapped with geotextile to protect the holes from possible clogging.

Installation of inspection chambers. To control the drainage process and the necessary cleaning of the system, special wells are being installed. They can be made of reinforced concrete rings, but if the depth at which the drainage is laid does not exceed 3 m, corrugated pipes of different diameters are used. Structures must be equipped with covers to prevent various debris from entering them. On a straight line, wells are placed every 35-50 m and after one turn with a winding trench.

The wells are located at the bends of the trench and every 35-50 m in a straight line

• Backfilling of the structure. The drain is covered with layers of rubble and sand. Some guides explaining how to drain the site suggest separating the sand from the rubble with geotextiles to prevent mixing. The laid pipe together with the crushed stone-sand bed should not occupy more than half of the trench height. The remaining space is filled with compacted loam and the top layer of fertile soil. Ideally, the area under which the drain pipes are located should not stand out.

Thinking about how to make drainage on the site, you need to know that this work can be done independently. The main thing is to determine the type of system that is necessary to drain the soil, carry out a competent project and correctly install the structure. Then it will be possible to forget forever about the troubles that the excess moisture in the area caused.

Plot and main principles drainage. In this publication I want to dwell in more detail on ways elimination of excess water on the site and decorative possibilities design of devices for moisture removal.

After all, the water on the site is not only a natural disaster, it is also a huge opportunity and an excellent tool for a landscape designer.

Drainage system project on site

The device of the drainage system is an important stage in the improvement of the site. If there is a danger of high flooding or poorly permeable to water, drainage of the pit is mandatory. It is better to find out the need for this in advance, so as not to face a problem after the construction of the house is completed.

Drainage structures are therefore called system that underground drainage and blind area, and surface grooves, even - all this is a single complex, artificial recreation in a small area of ​​the natural water cycle in nature.

Moisture that falls out with precipitation is partly absorbed by the soil, partly drains into the natural slopes. The water that has infiltrated into becomes groundwater and also, along the slopes of the waterproof layers, flows towards the reservoirs located in the lowlands.

When planning to make a drainage system, you need to try to recreate the natural conditions for the existence of water in nature using artificial devices. It is highly desirable to design the system so that it works as independently as possible, without the use of coercion in the form of drainage.

You need to try to think over the drainage project so that there is no need to force water to move where it does not flow itself. The principle of operation of the drainage system should be based on gravity: we collect surface water in ditches and allow it to flow away from the site; We make clay soil, poorly permeable to moisture, easily absorbing water with the help of drains and drainage cushions.

So, drainage ditches and trays imitate rivers, underground drains - flowing groundwater, places of collection of diverted water - lakes and seas: everything is like in nature. Then the functioning of the drainage system will be the most reliable, independent of power outages. And it will also be easier to fit such a system into the landscape. When planning drainage, it is necessary to take into account the natural slopes of the relief, the depth, the location of buildings and tall trees on the site.

Surface drainage

Since the main water load falls on the warm season, it is not always necessary to bury below the freezing depth to drain water. Surface drainage is quite effective, especially if the site is located on a small one.

Ditches and grooves

The easiest and most affordable option to drain water is to arrange surface drainage grooves... Drainage ditches cope with the drainage of water during heavy rainfall or during snowmelt. Usually they are located along the perimeter of the site, observing the slopes for the gravity of water.

The ditches are directed towards the water intake located at the lowest part of the site. It can be a street ditch running along the road, a storm sewer, if the village is equipped with it, as well as a reservoir - natural or artificial.

In addition to ditches along the borders, if necessary, a surface drainage device is used and along the territory of the site itself.

The bottom and walls of the ditches are made simply with soil or lined with some material, for example, or with slabs. When arranging channels, you need to distinguish sewage and drainage ditches.

Waste the ditch receives flows of water already collected earlier, or water coming from above - for example, during rain. Therefore, its walls can be waterproof. Such a channel is designed in the form of concrete or plastic trays. Drainage the same ditch absorbs excess moisture from the soil, so its walls must be permeable to water.

Surface drainage ditches can be constructed above deep drainage pipes located in the soil as an additional measure.

Do not be embarrassed by the fact that trenches will appear on your site. There are several ways to decorate them that can turn a utilitarian drainage structure into an element. The choice of style depends on the design of the entire site.

The channel for water drainage using ready-made trays is decorated with decorative lattices - plastic or metal.

You can use it as a material for finishing the walls of the ditch, just do not forget that if a solution is used to fix the stone, then this method is suitable for effluent ditches. Drainage the ditch must be finished with large stones, using the "dry masonry" method - then the walls will remain water-permeable.

In the photo below you can see a drainage ditch lined with natural stone using the "dry masonry" technology - a functional component of the drainage system and a decorative element of the landscape.





Another way to trim and at the same time strengthen the walls from shedding is to use the so-called Reno mattresses... These are analogs - metal nets filled with rubble or cobblestones - only oriented not vertically, but horizontally or obliquely.

Drainage ditch and pond slope reinforced with Reno mattresses. Photo from sitkazahid.com

Using Reno mattresses is not only a way to drain the soil, but also an opportunity to strengthen it on the slopes of drainage ditches, as well as reservoirs, if any on your site. Strengthening the soil on slopes with such a technique in the design of the site can be combined with gabions or fences.

In addition to the actual ditch (shallow and narrow ditch), surface drainage can be arranged in the form of:

• Natural stream

The drainage ditch does not have to be straight. A slightly sinuous shape will not reduce drainage efficiency, but will look more natural and fit better with your design. The ditch should be dug with inclined walls (inclination angle approx. 20 °) to avoid soil shattering. The walls are reinforced with turf or stone, and decorative ones are planted.

• "French" ditch

The French ditch is a fairly deep trench completely covered with rubble. This option not only copes with the function of removing excess water, but is also a stylish decoration of the site. In addition, it is devoid of the disadvantages of an ordinary open ditch: plant debris does not accumulate here, and water does not bloom.

• "Dry" stream

"Dry bed" in landscape design is used as an independent decorative element. It's also a great way to mask drainage. In their structure, they are similar to the French ditch, the trench is filled with rubble to the top. The difference is in appearance.

French ditches are straightforward, they first appeared in the regular ones, popular in France during the Baroque era. imitate the path of a dried up natural river or stream or kurum - a stone river.

• Tracks

Correctly arranged with a backfill with materials that filter water well (crushed stone, sand) at the base, laid with a slope to the edges, are able to effectively drain the site themselves. They can also mask drainage ditches in surface fill drainage.

When installing such paths, do not forget that their surface must be water-permeable. As a material, use fine, granite chips, laid without mortar, in the sand. Additionally, paths in the garden on the outer sides can be equipped with drainage trays directed to the general drainage system.

Garden ponds as elements of the drainage system

Through ditches of various designs and appearance, water flows into a water intake, one of the options for which can be a reservoir - natural or artificial. Surface drainage is an excellent reason for arranging a pond in the country. It will serve as a water intake for an open-type drainage system, and in combination - as the center of the landscape composition of the site.

Pru, if it is not arranged with the help of a ready-made plastic container, but has a natural bottom, it is itself a drainage. If it is located at the lowest point of the site, excess ground and surface water will drain into it, draining the area. In simple cases of flooding the area, a pond dug in the right place may be the only and sufficient element of the drainage system.

If there is no place for a garden drainage reservoir on the site, but there is a natural pond, lake or river nearby, then the collected water can be diverted there. Of course, if the feasibility of such an event is adequate to the labor costs for the production of earthworks. You can drain water by a surface method, all the same with a ditch (tray), or by laying an underground pipe.

You just need to make sure in advance that the level of the reservoir is always below the pipe, even in the spring flood. Otherwise, in the spring, you will get the opposite effect: instead of draining excess water from the site, a part of the reservoir flows to you through the pipe. Or the pipe must be equipped with a non-return valve.

Do not forget that in a natural body of water strongly contaminated water must not be drained, for example from a filtration system.

Surface drainage from buildings

The flow of water towards the drainage ditches should be facilitated by a well-arranged vertical layout site when developing a project for the construction of a house and other buildings. This layout is one of the components of the overall drainage system. The creation of an embankment under the house during construction improves the conditions for the drainage of rain and melt water from the foundation of buildings.

To drain water, the blind area around the perimeter of the house, the platform and paths in front of the building are made with an inclination towards the general drainage system. In the direction of gutters and drainage ditches or structures of underground drainage, drainage trays should also be oriented, receiving water from

Backfill drainage around the house - soft blind area

Backfill drainage can be organized around the house (along the perimeter). The principle of its construction is the same as in the "French" ditches described above: a trench filled with rubble and gravel. The top layer of the backfill can be decorative, such as colored pebbles.

Backfill drainage - replacement or addition of a hard-surfaced blind area. Perhaps it will fit better with the design of your site. There are several options for the final coverage of the soft blind area:

• decorative or pebble;

Backfill drainage is good to use not only along the perimeter of buildings, but also around the open one, and this will make the site more neat.

It is not too difficult to create a surface drainage system. Of course, ditches will have to be dug and refined if necessary. But in general, the work can be carried out independently, armed only with and.

The main thing is to correctly plan the directions of the ditches: so that the excess water is gone, and the plantings, especially trees and shrubs, do not remain without moisture. It is also important to respect the slopes to ensure gravity.

If the conditions on the site from the point of view of excess water are more severe, the groundwater is located high, then surface drainage is indispensable. It will take "heavy artillery" - deep drainage... Here it is already impossible to cope with a shovel; large-scale earthworks and engineering calculations will be required.

A low-lying area can create many problems for its owners. In waterlogged soil, the foundation of the house is destroyed faster, the roots of plants rot from lack of air. Fertile soil in a short time turns into clay unsuitable for agriculture, because the lighter one is washed out into water bodies. Similar problems are solved by a site drainage device.

The installation of such a reclamation system is not difficult, but all the work is quite laborious, so first you should make sure that the problem lies precisely in the high level of groundwater flow, and not in other errors of agricultural technology.

How to determine the level of groundwater

A drainage system device will be needed in the following cases:

1. The plot is located on a slope. Thawed or storm water will erode the soil, carrying with it a layer of humus. The problem is solved by digging transverse drainage ditches.
2. The plot is located in a low-lying area. In this case, moisture accumulates directly on it. With prolonged rains or amicable melting of snow, the soil will swamp and acidify, and the buildings will collapse from mold. In this case, it is necessary to install drainage channels around the entire perimeter of the site and around the foundation.
3. There is no obvious elevation difference on the site, but in flood and rainy weather there is still water on it. It has nowhere to drain, so moisture is slowly absorbed and at times appears on the surface in the form of long-lasting puddles.

The latter option is typical for lowland lowlands with an extensive network of large and small rivers. He is well known to the owners of land plots in the floodplains of rivers.

If there are no obvious signs listed above, but plantings and buildings still suffer from high humidity, you should pay attention to the condition of the lawn and trees. If the lawn periodically looses, and mature trees die for no apparent reason, the problem most likely lies in high-standing waters.

Dig a hole 0.5–0.7 m deep and after a while check to see if there is water in it. If you saw the water, then the level of its occurrence is less than 1 meter, and drainage of the summer cottage will definitely be needed.

Drainage types

Drainage is a system of shallow ditches used to drain groundwater. A drainage system installed in accordance with all the rules can significantly reduce their level. After its installation, the problems of root decay in trees, the appearance of mold in the underground and water in the cellar disappear.

There are two types of drainage systems - surface and deep.

The first option is the easiest way to drain precipitation. It is a complex of communicating trenches dug along the perimeter of the land plot at a slope. With their help, it is possible relatively quickly, with minimal costs and effectively to divert melt and rainwater into a special catchment, which is arranged in the lowest part of the site. Runoff from the catchment tank is discharged into the storm drain, or used for irrigation. Small volumes of liquid evaporate quickly on their own.

Installation of a deep system is more difficult, but superior to a surface system in the following cases:

• groundwater rises above half a meter from the surface;
• the site is on a slope;
• the soil is dominated by clay.

Deep drainage differs from surface drainage by the presence of drains - pipes with frequent holes through which water is collected, as well as sand traps and other technological elements.

Deep drainage of the site is completely hidden underground and does not spoil the landscape.

Installation of a deep drainage system

It is not difficult to make a water drainage system from the site yourself, but you need to plan its installation before the stage of building the foundation and laying the garden. First, preparatory work is carried out. They prepare a project and note in it:

• elevation differences on the site;
• the location of the lowest point;
• drainage grooves;
• places for wells;
• pipe laying depth.

For effective drainage to work, the minimum slope should be at least one centimeter per linear meter of the pipe.

Upon completion of the preparatory work, all the necessary tools, materials should be prepared and their number should be calculated. The standard set includes:

• perforated pipes of a suitable size;
• drainage wells;
• drain connection accessories - various couplings and fittings;
• geotextile;
• sand and crushed stone.

On sale there are pipes for laying drainage on the site with your own hands. Suitable asbestos-cement, PVC, ceramic. Popular made of modern porous materials - plastoconcrete, expanded clay glass. Water seeps through the pores, and small solid particles do not pass, that is, they do not clog the system.

Also prepare tools in advance: bayonet and shovels, wheelbarrows for soil, for cutting pipes, building level.

Next, mark the location of all elements on the ground. Then, in the marked places, trenches are dug with a depth of at least 0.7 m and about half a meter wide. Once all the channels have been dug, make sure they have the correct slope throughout. The places where the wells will be located are deepened more.

When all the trenches are ready, the bottom of the grooves and wells is rammed, covered with a layer of sand and compacted again. Then geotextiles are laid in them in such a way as to wrap it around the pipe with a margin.

Crushed stone is poured onto the geotextile and pipes are laid so that the holes are at the bottom. The whole system is connected, the slope is checked again and finally covered with rubble. It must cover the pipes completely. Then the free edges of the fabric are wrapped inward. The result should be a kind of roll with a pipe in the center.

Layers of cloth, sand and gravel prevent siltation of the system, significantly extending its service life.

Drainage (revision) wells are installed at the joints of the pipes. They are designed for condition monitoring and cleaning. They are mounted just below the pipe level. The upper part has a removable cover for easy maintenance.

After assembling pipes and wells into a single complex, a collector well is installed at the lowest part of the site. It is the main reservoir for waste water. Most often, collectors are made of reinforced concrete rings, but if desired, ready-made plastic ones are purchased and installed. From the collector, it is necessary to provide for a drain into the storm sewer or reservoir.

How to hide drainage underground and decorate the site at the same time

On this, the installation work for the device in the country with their own hands can be considered complete. Now the entire system should be filled up in order to hide it completely underground. The backfilled trenches are covered with turf. In the future, flowers or any garden crops with a shallow root system are planted in this place. The grooves filled with large marble chips look interesting. Such elements of landscape design will decorate the site and will not let you forget the location of the pipes in case of repair work.

The drainage system of waters is usually combined with gutters. To do this, a gutter is mounted that connects the drain with the nearest well, or a storm water inlet is installed.

A closed-type drainage device at a summer cottage is not the easiest, but the most effective way to lower the groundwater level. Some of the steps may seem overwhelming or overwhelming, but the result of a dry foundation and a healthy garden will delight you for years to come.

Do-it-yourself drainage of the site - video

The need for drainage of the site arises in the area where groundwater is close and there is a significant amount of precipitation. To avoid leaching and waterlogging of the soil, as well as undermining of foundations and flooding of basements, one should professionally approach the organization of the drainage system.

For the first time, a system for collecting and discharging water outside of land plots was created in Ancient Babylon, and, despite the fact that technology has advanced significantly after centuries, today the drainage of the site is carried out according to the same principle.

Varieties of drainage systems

By purpose, drainage systems are divided into the following types:

• superficial(open type),
• deep(closed type).

Surface drainage of the site, in turn, is subdivided into:

• point... In the organization of the point system, storm water inlets, sedimentation tanks (drainage drains), storm dampers and ladders are used. Storm water inlets are installed directly under gutter roof drains, in doorways, under irrigation pipes and taps, as well as in places where local collection of water is required. A point catchment effectively complements linear drainage where an efficient and fast drainage from the site is required. The water collectors are connected by underground pipes, through which water enters the storm sewer well. Point drainage of the site allows you to effectively remove excess moisture that has fallen in the form of precipitation. The prerequisites for the high-quality operation of this system are its regular cleaning and professional maintenance.
• linear... It can be either wall-mounted or remote from buildings. The linear system is represented by trays with gratings designed to receive rainfall that did not fall into the point sewage system. The catchment point is a stormwater well. This option is most relevant for areas where groundwater is not too close to the surface. The storm drainage device does not provide for serious surface preparation. All that is required is to create flat slopes on both sides of the gutter line. This will help reduce the risk of soil shrinkage, reduce the length of storm channels, and increase the catchment area. The drainage system is connected to the stormwater through horizontal and vertical branches. To increase the efficiency of the system, experts recommend equipping it with sand traps;
• ... The construction of the deep system is carried out in areas where groundwater is located at a distance of up to 2.5 meters, and provides for a significant amount of earthworks. Therefore, experts recommend starting its arrangement before starting the construction of a house.

Deep drainage of the site can be:

• trumpet... It is used if the groundwater at the site is deep. To create it, you will need perforated pipes (drains). The pipes are laid underground at a certain slope, moisture enters them through the holes and is transported to the collection points (storage well, drainage tunnel, storm sewer well);
• stratal... One of the most common types of deep drainage systems. It is laid at the base of the building and provides for the organization of a filtering crushed stone cushion.

If heavy rain is possible in your area, it is worth choosing a hybrid system that provides for the organization deep drainage of the site and storm sewers... The storm drain can be either point or linear.

Preparation for the construction of drainage

There are several types of sites that are guaranteed to require a drainage system. These include:

• located on lands with a high clay content - even with light rain, puddles will constantly stand on the site;
• with a high threshold of groundwater;
• with a flat surface, as a result of which water does not have the ability to drain anywhere;
• located at the bottom of the slopes - in case of floods or melting snow, they instantly flood.

The choice of the type of drainage of the garden plot should be carried out based on the territorial relief. However, before thinking about which type of soil drainage to give preference to, you need to know that there are two types of system:

• open;
• closed.

Open system

The easiest way to do it with your own hands in the country is to make an open drainage. It is suitable for those areas where water drainage is needed after precipitation or melting snow. The advantages of this system are the simplicity of the device and the low price. For its implementation, it is required to dig drainage ditches around the residential building, the depth of which should be 0.5 m.

On the side where the water comes from, the trench should have a slope of about 30 degrees in order for the water flow to pass as actively as possible. Thus, the required number of ditches are dug, which are connected into one, ending in a well. Next, you need to check if the slope is sufficient, since if it turns out to be too small, then water stagnation will occur in this place. In such a situation, you just need to change the slope of the sewer ditches so that the moisture can quickly go away even with heavy precipitation.

There is one significant drawback in an open drainage system - an unpresentable look. To compensate for this, the ditches are covered with gravel: a larger fraction is placed at the bottom, and a smaller fraction at the top. The material should be large enough, but for the top layer it is permissible to use smaller crushed stone or pebbles.

Closed system

Drainage of a suburban area of ​​a closed (deep) type is used for areas where groundwater is located very high. It will protect the basements of the house from flooding. This method requires more effort and financial costs, compared with an open drainage system, since it cannot do without laying pipes.

The depth of pipe laying depends on the type of soil - 60 cm for clay and 100 cm for sandy. The diameter of the main pipes is 100 mm, and the diameter of the additional pipes is slightly less - 75 mm.

The drainage scheme of a closed-type section is called "herringbone", according to the method of pipe laying. Such a system implies an obligatory element: a ditch or a well for drainage. The device of this design will require a lot of effort, but it will pay off in dry times, since the water from the gutter can be used when watering the garden.

For the drainage system, corrugated perforated plastic pipes are used. They are environmentally friendly, easy to install, and inexpensive. The process of their installation directly depends on the type of soil on the site.

A high clay content will require the use of a special filter material. If the soil is of crushed stone type, it is necessary to put crushed stone under the pipe (layer, about 20 cm thick). If the soil on the site is loamy, the pipes are wrapped with geotextiles. Recently, you can purchase ready-made wrapped pipes and immediately begin to independently install the drainage at your summer cottage.

Tips to help you get the right drainage:

• Decide on type of drainage system
• If there is heavy rainfall on your site, it will take surface drainage... But to lower the groundwater level, a deep drainage system should be organized. In order to determine if a drainage system is needed in your area, a simple test should be performed. Dig a hole 0.6 m deep on the site and fill it with water. If the water is gone during the day, there is no need for drainage, but if water remains in the pit, this means that the soil on the site is quite dense and you cannot do without a drainage system.
• Calculate correctly during the design process system load
• Load degree on the system depends on the characteristics of the soil on the site, the filtration coefficient at different times of the year, the saturation of the soil with moisture, the volume of water inflow. If you are installing a household drainage system, the load on which will be low, you can use polymer drains, plastic trays and grates. If serious loads are foreseen on the system, it is better to refuse plastic elements. Proper drainage in this case will involve the use of channels, gutters and concrete wells.
• Use quality materials.

The efficiency of the drainage system directly depends on the quality of the materials that were used in its installation. Therefore, do not try to create drainage pipes or any other elements of the system yourself. These dubious savings can be a significant waste for you. It is also not recommended to use ordinary plastic pipes. Drainage pipes are not much more expensive than ordinary PVC pipes. But at the same time, the latter work less efficiently, but they clog up quickly. The best option would be to use rigid corrugated drainage pipes with a smooth inner surface.

• Take care of your filters

Proper drainage of the site involves the use of geotextiles. By wrapping perforated pipes in geotextile, you eliminate the risk of sand getting into them. Also, do not forget about sand traps. These are special devices that are able to trap small debris (sand, plant seeds, leaves, anything that can clog the stormwater). The drainage system, equipped with sand traps, will operate as efficiently as possible, quickly handling significant volumes of fluid.

Drainage of areas on slopes

If your area is on a slope, the first ditch should be dug at the very top of the area. This will prevent waterlogging of the soil in the area below. The second ditch should be parallel to the first and located at the very bottom of the homestead. You can connect the two ditches with a trench, into which an underground pipe will be laid in the future. All water from the site will be collected in the lower ditch and drain into a reservoir or drainage well. In order for the walls of the ditch not to crumble over time, they should be performed at an angle 20-30 °. In a similar way, trenches for deep drainage are made using pipes.

It is quite possible to do the correct drainage of an open type with your own hands, and quite quickly. But the installation of deep systems will require certain knowledge and skills, significant labor and time costs.

Construction works

After the materials have been purchased and the place for the future gutter has been determined, the installation of the structure can begin. First, ditches are dug, the bottom of which is lined with geotextiles (it must be laid with a margin). If you do not want to use geotextiles, then sand should be laid on the bottom, in a layer of about 10 cm or a little more. From above, the pipes are covered with expanded clay or very large crushed stone. The topmost layer is the soil removed when digging trenches.

It is necessary to monitor the angle of inclination of the pipes. The correct figure is 7 cm per 10 m of pipe. Parts of pipes are connected with tees or crosses.

The drainage of wastewater usually takes place using a specially made well. The easiest way to assemble it is from reinforced concrete rings, which can be bought ready-made. Another, less expensive option is to use a plastic container.

Pipes are supplied to the installed well. In order for the accumulated liquid to drain freely, a pipe is mounted in the upper part of the well. If this is not possible, then the resulting water is pumped out with a pump.

If you are determined to drain your site, our tips and tricks will help you do it quickly and cost-effectively. It will take several days to complete the entire complex of works.

Before proceeding with the gardening and landscaping of the personal plot, it should be drained. The composition of the soil in many parts of Russia mainly includes loams and clay, so in these latitudes it is especially important to drain the soil! The durability of the house and the period of the appearance of the first deformations depend on the quality of this kind of work. This article will discuss how to properly drain the site.

Determine the reason why it is necessary to drain the soil

Even novice builders can, armed with the right information and material, successfully drain a site. However, first we will find out why drainage is needed, and what consequences await the owner due to waterlogging of the soil:

• Flooding basements can lead to dampness and, consequently, the appearance of mold on the walls.
• Due to the regular heating of the foundation, the masonry collapses, and cracks appear in the walls, due to which the windows are skewed.
• Waterlogged soil expands, due to which artificial ponds, pools, paths and paths built into the ground not only deform, but also completely collapse over time.
• Green spaces such as trees and flowers will be deprived of enough oxygen due to excess moisture, which will cause them to freeze and die.

Here are just some of the consequences of waterlogging, but in fact there are many more.

The main types of drainage systems

There are different drainage systems. However, to eliminate excess water, in any case, you need to install either a well or a general watercourse.

• Closed or as it is also called deep drainage. For its construction, a network of drainage pipes is used, which are buried in the ground. From them, water is discharged into special wells. For this, polyvinyl chloride pipes are now used. Their diameter should be 6.3 or 11 cm. The pipes should be corrugated on the outside and smooth on the inside. There are special holes along their entire length. Then the pipes need to be wrapped with geotextiles or coconut fiber canvases. These activities are necessary to create filtration of sand and soil particles.

• The simplest open drainage. For its arrangement, open ditches should be dug around the perimeter of the entire site. The depth of each channel should be about 70 cm, and its thickness should not be more than 50 cm. It is better to make the walls beveled, with a slope of about 30 °. The collected water will drain into one drain, provided for several areas at once. This type of drainage is very convenient during the period of snow melting and precipitation, especially if the site is under a slope. The ditches, which are located across the slope, intercept the flowing water from above, and then direct it into a general watercourse that runs longitudinally. Then the liquid is taken out of the personal plot.
• Backfill drainage is similar to its closed type. However, in this case, instead of pipes, a trench is simply dug, subsequently covered with gravel or small stones. The top layer of the drainage system is covered with soil.

It should be borne in mind that the backfill drainage is very silted up. To prevent this, an additional geotextile filtering layer should be created.

Linear way

Surface drainage can be linear or point. The inline system provides more robust protection. For its installation, it is necessary to create an accurate plan for drawing all lines. Usually they are carried out in accordance with the parameters of the perimeter of the site. The point system includes ladders for transporting water, storm inlets and drainage systems.

These elements should be installed at the lowest points of the site, under the roof downpipes of the house and in front of the entrance to it.

To install linear drainage, ditch 50x50 cm or 50x70 cm should be dug.

The edge from which water will be removed must be cut at an angle of 30 °. This will improve the water drain during operation.

All ditches must be connected to a common one leading to a drainage well, which is a buried container into which all the collected liquid flows.

At this stage, the soil drainage ditches should be covered with gravel or other material. For example, some craftsmen make fascines from coniferous or birch brushwood. To do this, twigs are tied in bundles, 30 cm thick. After they are laid on crossed pegs, which are placed along the length of the dug ditch, and moss is laid on top of the bundles and on the sides. Such drainage can last more than ten years.

As for crushed limestone, it is not worth filling the drainage ditch with them. The fact is that when wet, this type of stone cakes, turning over time into a monolithic structure through which water does not pass. Instead, it is better to fill the ditches with coarse sand.

To create aesthetically pleasing linear drainage systems, the bottom and sides of the trench should be concreted. After the base has solidified, trays are installed in the trench, which are subsequently closed with decorative gratings. Such a simple open drainage kit is sold in every hardware store. For better drainage of water, place the gutters at a slight slope.

In order not to clog the collector with small debris, install a sand trap directly in front of it, which implies the installation of a mechanical filter.

This method is, of course, more complicated than without using trays, but such a system will last you much longer.

Sometimes volumetric drainage is carried out in the areas. It resembles a layer cake, consisting of sand, gravel, geotextiles and lawn grates, as well as soil. With all this, the soil remains loose. This promotes the absorption of excess moisture, which goes to the lower layers.

Installation of a closed drainage system

In order to create a closed drainage, it is necessary to purchase special pipes designed for this. For many years, ceramics have been used here, in which holes for water drainage have already been prepared. True, today they are practically not produced. Asbestos-cement pipes have become an equivalent replacement for them. True, in this case, the holes must be made with your own hands at a distance of approximately 1.5 cm from each other. Nevertheless, laying such a drainage system is quite expensive.

The more modern form of drainage pipes is, among other things, much easier to install. This is a corrugated pipe. If the soil is sandy or loamy, then the best option would be to lay special drainage blocks. They are perforated polymer pipes wrapped with geosynthetic filler, which is placed in a polyethylene film. The pipe diameter is 5 or 11 cm, and the finished block is 15 and 30 cm, respectively. So, you will save time on self-winding pipes. If the soil is crushed stone, then the filter material is not needed, you only need polymer pipes.

We define the tasks of geotextiles and drainage wells

Why do experts recommend using geotextiles? It's that simple! After all, it is this material that serves as an excellent filter that retains small debris. Among other things, it also perfectly absorbs moisture. It is used for soft soil drying. The material is especially desirable when draining soils with a large amount of moisture.

For the flow of water accumulated in the drainage system, a container or a well buried in the soil is needed. It is here that water accumulates and is evenly distributed. Moreover, this structure provides an opportunity to monitor the health of the drainage system and carry out preventive work in it. In truth, it is safer and easier to buy a plastic drainage well in a specialized store. But if you really want to, you can make the container yourself using reinforced concrete rings.

The well should be located 0.5 m below the level of the pipes. In the upper part of the sump, you will need to make a pipe to drain excess water or install a pump for this purpose.

Now your finished drainage system can be tested by the natural moisture reserves of the site!

Do you have experience in installing the site drainage system? Maybe some of the above tips helped you? Or are we missing some details? Write us your comments! We look forward to collaborating!

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